BigbadB

Let's just see how Jack Wilson does now that he is off the 'roids. :D

Good advice. He'll get lots of at bats this season, but mostly as a PH and spot starter. Find someone who will play everyday, even if they aren't all that good. Personally, I'd trade or drop Mike Piazza and find a 2b that can steal some bases. You're gonna get hurt in that department. Kaz Matsui might be worth consideration. But, Tadahito Iguchi would be a real nice fit with your team.

Exactly! Blanco is why Barrett's ranking is what it is for fantasy baseball. Catchers need more rest than typical players and many managers go with a personal catcher for certain pitchers, therefore a quality hitting catcher like Barrett's value will not be as good as run of the mill offensive infielders and outfielders.

Huff at 3rd instead of Sean Burroughs?

It's too bad that Neifi didn't strike out more. His 22 GIDP's is 44 outs that are far worse than your basic strike out.

Compare the rotations. The DR doesn't have much beyond Pedro. After Pedro, you have Daniel Cabrera, Bartolo Colon and Odalis Perez. Those guys don't even remotely compare to Zambrano, Santana and King Felix.

It really will depend on final rosters, but who beats a rotation of: Johan Santana Carlos Zambrano Felix Hernandez Freddy Garcia Kelvin Escobar Victor Zambrano Tony Armas Gustavo Chacin K-Rod Jorge Julio OF Bobby Abreu Magglio Ordonez Miguel Cabrera Franklin Gutierrez IF Melvin Mora Edgardo Alfonzo Omar Vizquel Victor Martinez C Ramon Hernandez

I think Venezuela has the best team.

I agree - I want to keep Delmon as long as possible. However - in our league we can only keep players in our minors for one year - or until they make the major league club. I'm REALLY hoping Delmon makes it, but I know as of right now its 50/50. he SHOULD make it at some point to the majors this season, barring injury or total stupidity on the Rays' part. Problem is he's blocked pretty badly. The D'Rays have Travis Lee and Aubrey Huff at 1b. In the outfield, they have Baldelli, Crawford, Gomes, Danny Bautista, Damon Hollins and Joey Gathright. I suppose they could still stick Young in RF and go with Gomes and Huff as a DH platoon, but why start Young's option clock with all the blockage unless he's playing everyday?

Yeah, I don't care how bad former Cub players sing. If they are going to continue this tradition, it should ONLY be former Cub players. Or at least someone affiliated with the Cubs somehow.

I teach my pitchers let the baserunner worry about you and you worry about the hitter. It just isn't an easy thing for pitchers to do sometimes. Granted at my level runners have more of an effect but IMO concentration is what makes some pitchers great and others journeyman. Which brings in something I havent seen in the thread. The other end of the battery. If the catcher is good at reciving and can get the guys out going to second, that he should, the pitcher will focus more on the hitter and less on the runner. Someone like Piazza on the other hand will place all the stress of holding the runner on the pitcher. Which means a few more spots missed because of rushing to the plate or split concentration hanging a curve or a slider. Maddux is an exception, but since he is no longer in his prime the extra base he gives up hurts because he isnt automatic to get the next batter. Which is where the Padres are going to get burned badly this year. Piazza behind the dish in a hitting challenged park is not a good idea. A good defensive catcher who can provide good offense is a much better idea. Whoops, Ramon Hernandez is now an Oriole. #-o

I'm pretty happy with a team that ended up with the 12 pick out of 12 teams. SP Mark Prior SP Carlos Zambrano SP Tim Hudson SP Oliver Perez SP Brad Penny SP Odalis Perez (look how well he does in even years) RP Eric Gagne RP Eddie Guardado C Ramon Hernandez 1b Prince Fielder 2b Mark Loretta SS Felipe Lopez 3b Melvin Mora OF Brian Giles OF Carlos Beltran OF Barry Bonds Util Magglio Ordonez Bench Nomar Garciaparra Bench Aaron Hill I wouldn't mind a bit more speed, but I can probably find a bit of that in trade somewhere down the line. Health is my huge red flag. If everyone's healthy, we win more than we lose.

Maybe if you are driving from Illinois to California, but most certainly not from LA to Chicago.

It is physically impossible to demonstrate something does not exist. One can only demonstrate that something exists. Convential wisdom often gets people in trouble. True. For example, it is impossible to prove that Santa Claus doesn't exist. You can only say that there is no known credible evidence that he does exist. Only an omniscient being could state authoritatively that something does not exist. Now we're getting somewhere.

KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- When Jeff Bagwell joins his team on Feb. 24 for the first full-squad workout, he will begin a crucial period of evaluating where he stands physically and whether his right shoulder can endure the strain brought on by hitting and throwing. http://houston.astros.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060219&content_id=1315759&vkey=spt2006news&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou We're all cheering for you, Bags!

The 35 hour drive turns me off, believe it or not.

Wow, you were able to trade for the 1st 5 picks in the draft? :D

Can an argument also be made that when a speedy runner is on base, a pitcher and/or defense can become more focused rather than distracted?

Texas is loaded with guys who can get on base. That's going to be one serious run scoring team.

I'd like to believe this. Have you anything to back it up with? Pierre has never scored more than 108 runs in a season. If he was good at throwing off pitcher's rhythm, wouldn't he have an extremely high run scoring rate considering guys like Carlos Delgado, Miguel Cabrera and Todd Helton have been hitting right behind him during his career? Mark Loretta scored 108 runs in 2004 hitting primarily 2nd in the Padres order. He doesn't have any speed to speak of. How can he score the same amount of runs in a season as someone like Pierre, who can throw off a pitcher's rhythm? Does Pierre have some sort of special "runs scored per chances" ratio that other not so speedy high run scoring players don't? I'm not against speed. I'm against sacrificing OBP for speed.

Well, I'd love to tell Hendry what I think of the concept of building a team around how the manager will use each individual player. In the end, I agree that Pierre won't be the problem when we look back at all the things that went wrong in 2006. I think we will be discussing the same thing we've been discussing the last several years though. And that is lack of plate discipline and the inability of the manager to use the right tools for the job (ie. batting Neifi 2nd behind Pierre).

There are many valid points from both sides of this debate. I think the debate originally stemmed from my top 5 list, that only includes players from Aaron and Mays and prior. I think there are great players in this generation. Albert Pujols is a guy who is well on his way up my list. However, my list wasn't taking into consideration park adjustments, player equivilencies or anything of that nature. My list is players that I feel dominated the game more than any other player in that era. I could have put Barry Bonds on my list. He's certainly had an amazing career. However, he's been wearing body armor for the last umpteen years, which I think should be illegal. It's clearly given him a clear advantage over pitchers than Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron or Babe Ruth ever got. There is also admitted steroid use. While he only admitted to rubbing a little "skin cream" on his leg just once, his close buddy is involved in one of the biggest steroid scandals in history. Yes, innocent until proven guilty is the way it's supposed to be. But, in Bonds case, I have no mad desire to find him innocent until proven guilty. Therefore, the opposite exists. I was a huge fan of Tony Gwynn. He was a huge fan of Ted Williams. They both have things named after them here in San Diego (Ted Williams Parkway and Tony Gwynn Stadium where the SDSU Aztecs play baseball). Roberto Clemente was a favorite of mine when I first started watching baseball. His career was too short, however. I'm not a big fan of moving the fences in every few years to increase offense to promote more attendance. I'm a big fan of station to station baseball. But, it doesn't work in this day and age where the home run can be hit by any one of 8 guys starting on offense. Ty Cobb's style of play was what baseball was all about. Sacrifice yourself for the good of the team in whatever way possible. Steal 2nd, steal 3rd and steal home if it will win you a ball game. And there was no one better at the things he did. He wasn't a nice man. But, he's the greatest player in the history of the game, IMO. If I was told I had to list someone from the recent era, then Rickey Henderson it is. Where does Juan Marichal fit in on everyone's pitching list? He was always one of my favorites.

I don't think anyone is arguing the importance of a leadoff hitter. However, what I think people are arguing is what is important to have in a leadoff hitter. Running fast isn't at the top of the list. Getting on base is. If Pierre doesn't hit over .300, his OBP won't be all that great. The only other thing he provides is speed, and I don't care how fast he can run, his speed is worthless if he's not on base to use it. Pierre is a decent leadoff hitter. He's shown that there are seasons where he can be among the league's best table-setters. He's also had two seasons where he probably would have been better off batting eighth. Regardless, he's an improvement over Neifi Perez and the 2005 version of Corey Patterson. But I would have been just as happy had the Cubs plugged Walker into the leadoff spot, pencilled Murton in as the #2 hitter, and overpaid for a better right-fielder either via trade or free agency. As for the Murton vs. Pierre issue, I think there's a very good chance that Murton could outproduce Pierre in 2006...if he's given 500+ plate appearances. This is all moot though. If the Cubs are going to contend, they need decent years out of both players. Well put. Pierre has had over 700 plate appearances in each of the last 3 years and he's scored no more than 100 runs in any of those years. He's had Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Delgado and Todd Helton hitting behind him during that span. He's durable, I'll give him that. But, anyone who can supply a respectable OBP at the top of the order can score 100 runs, speed or no speed, in 700 plate appearances. Grady Sizemore scored 1 more run than Pierre last year in 120 less plate appearances. Grady probably possesses speed more like Murton than Pierre. David Dellucci had 426 plate appearances in the lead off spot last year, and scored 76 times. That's 275 less plate appearances than Pierre. Dellucci is slower than molasses. Who will ever forget Mark Bellhorn's run at the lead off spot back in 2002, when he scored 48 runs in just 250 plate appearances. That's almost 1/3 of the trips to the plate as Pierre last year, or the year before that, or even the year before that. Bellhorn is probably slower than Dellucci. The Cubs used Todd Walker as a lead off hitter in 2004. He had 260 plate appearances and 45 runs scored. Given another 440 plate appearances to equal 700 like Pierre, I don't think it's a stretch to think Walker might have been able to achieve 100. We all know how fast Walker is. Walker isn't as durable as Pierre, I'll give you that. And he is on the wrong side of 30. Walker got next to no at bats in the lead off spot in 2005 after doing a tremendous job in 2004. Meanwhile, pathetic excuse of a lead off hitter after another ran out there day after day. I have no doubt Murton would have been better than most of them. Speed is nice. But, I see no evidence that Pierre's speed creates more production than a less speedy guy who can hit for more power and get on base at a higher percentage. Getting on base for a lead off hitter is priority #1. Staying on base so that the big boppers can bring you in is priority #2. I don't dislike Pierre. I'm just not all that enamored with him. Pierre and Walker at the top of the order could be a nice tandem for our production team of Lee and Ramirez. But, would it be more productive than Matt Murton hitting 1st and Walker hitting 2nd? Murton was on pace to score close to 90 runs hitting mostly at the bottom of the order of a really bad offensive team last year in 700 plate appearances. Walker 2.5m, Murton 350K, Pierre 6m. I like Pierre in general, but he's overpriced, I felt we overpaid in talent to get him, and he wasn't the biggest need on this team. Overall improvement in OBP was the major need of this team, and they traded for a guy fresh off a .326 OBP season. He doesn't draw walks, and this team needs guys who can draw walks AND provide quality offensive production.

I'm the one that was hoping to see Murton as a 4th outfielder. Mainly because a 4th outfielder gets a lot of at bats/playing time, and we don't have a good one. A Jones/Murton platoon in left field would have worked for me if we had a good production guy in RF. Unfortunately, we don't have that.

As would most trades involving young Miguel. I look at this trade from the standpoint of: JD Drew and Miggy Cabrera for Brian Giles and Mike Mussina. Rest is pretty much throwaway junk (though Loretta is sort of an upgrade from Belliard if he stays healthy, especially in that offense), and Casey is just an abysmal first base option. Loretta in Fenway is throw away junk? I beg to differ. Hitting second behind Coco Crisp and in front of Ramirez and Ortiz and Nixon makes for one of the most explosive offenses in baseball. I think Loretta will be at or above .380 OBP, which could lead to 130+ runs scored this year. I'd jump all over Miggy, Drew and Loretta.